![]() Liontown has binding five-year offtake agreements with South Korea’s LG Chem, Elon Musk’s Tesla and Ford that account for 450,000 tonnes a year, or 90 per cent, of the spodumene concentrate Kathleen Valley is slated to produce from mid-2024. ![]() “Albemarle has confirmed to Liontown its favourable view of the flagship Kathleen Valley project and Liontown’s management.” “Albemarle has advised Liontown that its decision to withdraw its proposal was due to the growing complexities associated with executing the transaction,” Liontown told the ASX in a statement signed off by the board, chaired by Tim Goyder. The $450 million funding gap is from December 2023 through to the December quarter of 2024 to cover capital expenditure and working capital, while gross debt is expected to tally to $750 million, analysts at Citi expect. It has been in talks with banks and export credit agencies separate to the Albemarle due diligence process. Liontown has said options to lock in the funding it needs to complete Kathleen Valley include debt and raising equity. Pilbara Minerals has said it expects to announce its preferred partner in the March quarter. On Monday, Albemarle declined to comment on whether that had changed. Mr Masters told The Australian Financial Review recently that Albemarle was not one of the dozens of parties interested in partnering with Pilbara Minerals in a lithium hydroxide plant that could access up to hundreds of thousands of tonnes a year of spodumene from a planned expansion of Pilbara Minerals’ Pilgangoora mine. MinRes has estimated it will the cost the partners up to $360 million to build train 4 with an additional $720 million required for trains 5 and 6 to take annual spodumene concentrate production to 2 million tonnes. On top of its blocking stake in Liontown, Hancock has a deal to supply lithium to India through what is so far a relatively small exploration partnership and has invested alongside the likes of Chris Ellison’s Mineral Resources in exploration companies with projects in part of WA dubbed the “lithium corridor of power”.Ĭharlotte-headquartered Albemarle said it would continue to execute its long-term growth strategy, which has focused heavily on mines and downstream processing in WA.Īlbemarle said a takeover offer for Liontown was no longer in the company’s best interests in light of “growing complexities associated with the proposed transaction”. ![]() The Rinehart camp has spent weeks casting doubt on Liontown’s ability to complete Kathleen Valley and to operate the mine in line with production forecasts without its assistance. Hancock declined to comment on Monday but indicated as recently as last week that it was willing to partner with Albemarle in owning and operating Kathleen Valley, and in onshore lithium processing. With analysts predicting a steep fall in Liontown stock when it resumes trading, she faces a paper loss of hundreds of million of dollars after acquiring most of the stake at $3, as Albemarle carried out due diligence.Īlbemarle appears to have decided over the weekend that it could not work with Mrs Rinehart in the kind of partnership arrangement envisioned by Australia’s richest person and her private company. Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting went on a $1.3 billion spending spree buying up Liontown shares over the past six months, acquiring a 19.9 per cent stake as of last week. It needs debt and or equity funding to complete its Kathleen Valley project in WA’s northern Goldfields. Liontown hired UBS as its board pushes ahead to a possible capital raising, The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column reported on Monday. Gina Rinehart has built a stake in Liontown. New York-listed Albemarle did not mention Australia’s richest woman by name in citing the “growing complexities” which meant pushing ahead with a bid pitched at $3 a share in early September was “not in Albemarle’s best interests”. ![]() Albemarle has pointed the finger at Gina Rinehart after walking away from its $6.6 billion takeover bid of West Australian lithium hopeful Liontown Resources, which is in a trading halt as it tries to lock in at least $450 million in funding needed to complete its flagship Kathleen Valley project.
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